Today’s gospel may not be as unfamiliar as it sounds. Are there not fashion police in our schools and colleges, isolating and punishing those who fail to wear the right clothes? And we’re surely familiar with thought police who pounce on politically incorrect remarks; while the opposition tracks down the political correct.
Today’s investigative reporters ferret through newspaper morgues, high school essays and college theses, looking for opinions and remarks that, taken out of context, might be used to destroy candidates for high office with their own remarks. Ministers and priests learn to measure their words carefully when speaking to their congregations, careful not to describe God as “he” or gay persons as “disordered.” Old people are now senior citizens; girls are young women; and retarded persons, who were once called idiots, are now blessed with intellectually impaired. Be careful what you say! Your good intentions are not good enough.
So the Pharisees in today’s gospel, complaining that Jesus ’ disciples don’t scrupulously observe their arbitrary religious laws are hardly unfamiliar to us. Being religious, of course, they carry the authority of infallibility. But, come to think of it, so do the fashion police. The more things change, the more they stay the same; or, as the French say, “Plus ça change” (Don’t ask me to pronounce that.)
Where does this nonsense come from? Freud suggested its origin is sibling rivalry. Convinced by my childhood experience that I need more love and there is not enough to go around, I take all I can get of recognition, honor, respect, love, affection and wealth. Where I feel that I still can’t get enough, I disrespect others to make them seem less.
Whether you buy this "psycho-babble" or not, you might agree, "It’s about faith." Jesus lives in this world but he is of God. He knows the Love of God. He lives in it, walks by it, and is firmly rooted in it. He cannot be shaken by adolescent mind games. He will finally demonstrate God’s infinite love to us by his death. There can be no greater demonstration than his passion, death and resurrection.
The “Pharisees” of our gospels represent not today's Jews but all those anxious people of the world – the fashion police and the political correctors and the Taliban – who live in and are of this world. They simply cannot imagine the assurance, confidence, ease and generosity that are borne of faith.
They have to see it to believe it. And that’s where you and I come in.
I think Jesus gets right to the heart of faith. No one else really knows what is in your heart about your relationship with God. Sometimes I just roll my eyes. Are we supposed to kneel or stand after Communion? (Depends on which side of the river you are.) Do you bow or nod your head before receiving Communion? What is the proper way to show your "holiness" at Mass? God knows what is in your heart.
ReplyDeleteI think in ordinary day at the normal time, we show, without knowing it, how much God means to us. That's scary to me sometimes. I am with 6th, 7th and 8th graders day in and day out. I hope I show them the love of God.
Peace,
Martha